Coated sheet stock drying apparatus



Feb. 15, 1966 T. J. ROSEMA COATED SHEET STOCK DRYING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 23, 1964 INVENTOR. Tkomaa IRoJema WMMM (l'lZorne y WITNESS Feb. 15, 1966 T. J. ROSEMA 3,235,058

COATED SHEET STOCK DRYING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 23, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 Iii INVER Thomas I ma WITNESS Anwn; flagg A/ w 5 T9 hy United States Patent 3,235,058 CQATED SHEET STOCK DRYING APPARATUS Thomas J. Rosema, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to James A. Black, President of General Research, Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Jan. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 339,691 Claims. (Cl. 198-31) The present invention relates to coated sheet stock drying apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for use in association with a high-speed, automatic sheet coating machine, such as a silk screen stencil machine, for drying coated sheet stock after its processing by the machine.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide apparatus for drying coated sheet stock, which apparatus is especially well adapted for drying sheets which have been coated with relatively slow-drying inks or other coating materials; to provide such coated sheet drying apparatus which is generally of the wicket conveyor type as disclosed in US. Patent No. 3,029,927 issued on April 17, 1962 to Harry Russell Farwell and by him assigned to my assignee; to provide such a wicket conveyor type apparatus which is so contrived as to provide the necessary drying time for the coated sheets while at the same time occupying only half the floor space which was occupied by former wicket conveyors, e.g. the conveyor shown in FIG- URE l of the above identified patent, or to provide, as an alternative, a wicket conveyor apparatus which will afford twice the drying time for the coated sheets while occupying no more floor space than the conventional wicket conveyor; to provide such wicket conveyor apparatus which applies more concentrated heat to the coated sheets thus to shorten the drying time for the sheets; and in. general to provide such wicket conveyor sheet drying apparatus which is compact in form, reasonably economical in manufacture, and efficient in use.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view, partially diagrammatic in character, of the new sheet-drying apparatus in association with sheet coating equipment;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a greatly enlarged, fragmentary sectional view of parts of the sheetdrying apparatus taken on line 3-3 of FlGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical sectional view of other parts of the sheet-drying apparatus taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG- URE 4 and showing parts of the sheet-drying apparatus in different moved positions.

Referring now in detail ao these drawings wherein like parts are designated by the same numerals in the several views, the new coated sheet drying apparatus is there shown in association with a more-or-less conventional silk screen stencil coating machine having an automatic sheet-feeder 11 connected thereto. Sheet stock to be coated, such as paper, cardboard, sheet metal and even glass, is fed at timed intervals by the sheet-feeder 11 into the left hand end of the coating machine 1t} as viewed in the drawings, and after processing is discharged from the right hand end of the machine.

Stock sheets coated with relatively slow-drying coating materiais must be kept separate until they are thoroughly dry and in condition for stacking, and this often requires a relatively long period of drying time. Formerly the sheets were removed from the coating machine by hand and manually placed in racks for drying. This was a laborious and expensive procedure, and the racks consumed much valuable floor space. More recently, wicket conveyors of the general type shown in the aforesaid US. Patent No. 3,029,927, have been employed for drying coated sheet stock. In the conventional installation, as seen in FIGURE 1 of said patent, such wicket conveyors also consumed much valuable floor space. Installations made according to the present invention require only half the floor space to provide the same amount of sheetdrying time, and afiford other advantages which Will hereinafter become apparent.

The new sheet-drying apparatus is mounted upon a frame which is shown somewhat diagrammatically in the drawings and which generally comprises upright posts 12, beams indicated at 13, and cross-connecting elements (not shown), the whole constituting a framework of generally rectangular parallelepiped form, elongated both horizontally and vertically. The drying apparatus comprises a pair of vertically tiered wicket type conveyors, there being an upper wicket conveyor 14 and a lower wicket conveyor 15. Each of these conveyors is only about one-half the length of the conventional wicket conveyor for drying sheets coated with relatively slow-drying coating materials, but together the upper and lower wicket conveyors have as many sheet-carrying wire wickets 16 as such a conventional wicket conveyor. It will readily be seen that the entire apparatus occupies only about one-half the floor space of the conventional apparatus.

Each of the upper and lower wicket conveyors 14 and 15, comprises a pair of horizontally spaced sprocket chains 17 whch pass around sprocket wheels 18 mounted on a shaft 19 extending transversely of the frame at the sheet receiving station or left hand end of the apparatus, and around other sprocket wheels (not shown) similarly mounted at the transfer station or right hand end of the apparatus. At the transfer station, each sheet is transferred from the wicket 16 which carried it from left to right across the upper reach of the conveyor, to the next preceding wicket 16 for its travel from right to left across the lower reach of the conveyor. Means here generally designated 20 are provided at the transfer station to prevent the sheets from falling off the conveyor during the transfer, and these means are shown in complete detail in my co-pending application Serial No. 339,788, filed January 23, 1964. The sheets are removed from the conveyor after drying and stacked up at a delivery station generally designated 21, and complete details of such a delivery mechanism are disclosed in the above identified US. Patent No. 3,029,927.

An upper tape conveyor 22 is provided for conveying coated sheets (designated S) from the discharge end of the coating machine 10 to the upper wicket conveyor 14, and a lower tape conveyor 23 is provided for conveying coated sheets S from the discharge end of the coating machine to the lower wicket conveyor 15. The tape conveyors 22, 23 are of more-or-less conventional construction comprising spaced endless tapes mounted for movement around roller-carrying frames in the direction indicated by arrows in FIGURE 1. The upper end of the upper tape conveyor 22 adjacent the frame of the drying apparatus is mounted for both pivotal movement and longitudinal sliding movement relative to said frame by means of pin-and-slot connections 24 to arms 25 which project from opposite sides of the frame of the apparatus (see FIGURE 3). Similarly, the upper end of the lower tape conveyor 23 adjacent the frame of the drying apparatus is mounted for both pivotal movement and longitudinal sliding movement relative to said frame by means of pin-and-slot connections 26 to arms 27 likewise secured to opposite sides of the frame of the apparatus.

The opposite ends of the tape conveyors 22, 23, adjacent to the coating machine 10, are mounted for vertical reciprocation so that either the upper tape conveyor 22 or the lower tape conveyor 23 may be brought into registry with the bed of the coating machine from which bed the coated sheets are discharged, and the coated sheets may thus be selectively conveyed to either the upper wicket conveyor 14 or the lower wicket conveyor 15. The upper tape conveyor 22 and the lower tape conveyor 23 are interconnected near their ends adjacent the coating machine by means of links 28 having their upper ends pivotally connected to the upper tape conveyor 22 and their lower ends pivotally connected to the lower tape conveyor 23. Means for vertically reciprocating these ends of the tape conveyors in unison comprise a crank or, as shown, a crankwheel 29 mounted for rotary movement on the floor adjacent the coating machine, and a crank arm 30 having its lower end pivotally connected to the outer end of the crank or crankwheel 29 and having its upper end pivotally connected to the lower tape conveyor 23. It will be seen that by this means the conveyors may be either alternately or selectively positioned so that each coated sheet may be conveyed by the upper tape conveyor 22 to the upper wicket conveyor 14, or conveyed by the lower tape conveyor 23 to the lower wicket conveyor 15, as seen in FIGURES 4 and 5.

It will be understood that the operations of the sheetfeeder 11, the coating machine 10, the tape conveyors 22, 23 and the wicket conveyors 14, 15 are all co-ordinated by suitable driving mechanism (not shown) so that the coated sheets are delivered to the wicket conveyors in properly timed relation. The arrangement may be such that alternating coated sheets are delivered to one wicket conveyor and the intervening sheets delivered to the other wicket conveyor, or it may be such that the upper and lower wicket conveyors are alternately completely loaded.

The upper and lower wicket conveyors 14, 15 pass through heated enclosures 31, 32 respectively which hasten the drying of the coated sheets. The close proximity of these two heated enclosures 31, 32 results in a maximum concentration of heat for expediting the drying of the sheets.

It will thus be seen that the invention provides an apparatus for drying coated sheet stock which is efiicient and very compact so as to aiford a maximum of coated sheet drying time While occupying a minimum of fioor space, and while but one specific embodiment of the invention has been herein shown and described it will be understood that numerous details thereof may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for use in association with a sheet coating machine, for drying coated sheet stock after its processing by the machine, said apparatus comprising: an upper endless wicket conveyor and a lower endless wicket conveyor mounted in tiered relation in proximity to the discharged end of the coating machine, said upper and lower conveyors each passing through a heated enclosure; an upper endless tape conveyor extending from the discharged end of the coating machine to said upper wicket conveyor; a lower endless tape conveyor extending from the discharge end of the coating machine to the lower wicket conveyor; said upper and lower endless tape conveyors being mounted adjacent the endless wicket conveyors for both pivotal movement and longitudinal sliding movement; and means for shifting the ends of the tape conveyors adjacent the coating machine so that coated sheets discharged from the machine are selectively delivered to one or the other of said tape conveyors and conveyed thereby to one or the other of said wicket conveyors respectively.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which the means for interconnecting the ends of the tape conveyors adjacent the coating machine comprise upstanding links having their upper ends pivotally connected to the upper tape conveyor and having their lower ends pivotally connected to the lower tape conveyor.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which the means for vertically reciprocating in unison the ends of the tape conveyors adjacent the coating machine comprise a crank mounted for rotary movement beneath said ends of the tape conveyors, and a crank arm having one end thereof pivotally connected to the outer end of the crank and having its other end pivotally connected to said end of the lower tape conveyor adjacent said coating machine.

4. Apparatus for use in association with a sheet coating machine, for drying coated sheet stock after its processing by the machine, said apparatus comprising: an upper conveyor and a lower conveyor mounted in tiered relation in proximity to the discharge end of the coating machine, said upper and lower conveyors each passing through a heated enclosure; a first auxiliary conveyor extending from the discharge end of the coating machine to said upper conveyor; a second auxiliary conveyor extending from the discharge end of the coating machine to the lower conveyor; said first and second auxiliary conveyors being mounted adjacent said upper and lower conveyors for both pivotal movement and longitudinal sliding movement; and means for shifting the ends of the first and second auxiliary conveyors adjacent the coating machine so that the coated sheets discharged from the machines are selectively delivered to one or the other of said auxiliary conveyors and conveyed thereby to one or the other or" said first and second conveyors respectively.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which the auxiliary conveyors are mounted for pivotal movement adjacent the endless wicket conveyors respectively, and in which the ends of the auxiliary conveyors adjacent the coating machine are interconnected for vertical reciprocation in unison.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,288,810 12/1918 Birchbauer 198134 X 2,000,269 5/1935 Absmeier 198-99 X 2,930,474 3/ 1960 Erickson.

3,080,958 3/1963 Ensley 19820 X SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner.

EDWARD A. SROKA, Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR USE IN ASSOCIATION WITH A SHEET COATING MACHINE, FOR DRYING COATED SHEET STOCK AFTER ITS PROCESSING BY THE MACHINE, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: AN UPPER ENDLESS WICKET CONVEYOR AND A LOWER ENDLESS WICKET CONVEYOR MOUNTED IN TIERED RELATION IN PROXIMITY TO THE DISCHARGED END OF THE COATING MACHINE, SAID UPPER AND LOWER CONVEYORS EACH PASSING THROUGH A HEATED ENCLOSURE; AN UPPER ENDLESS TAPE CONVEYOR EXTENDING FROM THE DISCHARGED END OF THE COATING MACHINE TO SAID UPPER WICKET CONVEYOR; A LOWER ENDLESS TAPE CONVEYOR EXTENDING FROM THE DISCHARGE END OF THE COATING MACHINE TO THE LOWER WICKET CONVEYOR; SAID UPPER AND LOWER ENDLESS TAPE CONVEYORS BEING MOUNTED ADJACENT THE ENDLESS WICKET CONVEYORS FOR BOTH PIVOTAL MOVEMENT AND LONGITUDINAL SLIDING MOVEMENT; AND MEANS FOR SHIFTING THE ENDS OF THE TAPE CONVEYORS ADJACENT THE COATING MACHINE SO THAT COATED SHEETS DISCHARGED FROM THE MACHINE ARE SELECTIVELY DELIVERED TO ONE OR THE OTHER OF SAID TAPE CONVEYORS AND CONVEYED THEREBY TO ONE OR THE OTHER OF SAID WICKET CONVEYORS RESPECTIVELY. 